At the Northern Fort

"We'll be staying at the inn. Make sure to come back before it gets dark."

The current time was just before noon, and in order for the watching enemy to see, we said our farewells with the One-Eyed Knight in front of the inn.

"Kyan!"

I cried out while wagging my tail. There were also townspeople watching, so I was strictly banned from talking out here.

"I-……woof!"

I was about to say [I'm off], but somehow managed to gloss over that with a dog-like cry.

The One-Eyed Knight once again made a worried expression.

It's alright, it'll be fine!

"L-……wafu!"

Swallowing back the words [Let's go, Kugalg], I brought Kugalg along with me and began walking off.

Dangerous, that was dangerous.

In order for the enemy to move more easily, we planned on going as far from the inn where the One-Eyed Knight and everyone were as possible.

We had a new round of pocket money inserted into the coin pouch hanging from Kugalg's neck, so we might as well do some shopping until we're kidnapped.

When we thought about how we were about to head off on an important mission, Kugalg and I got strangely hyped up.

Even though there wasn't any need to run, we headed for the centre of town until I was panting and short of breath.

"My, how odd!"

"Hahaha, what's with that?"

"Are they advertising for some clothing store? Or is it some rich person's hobby?"

The honeybee Kugalg and the sheep me soon became the centre of the passersby' attention.

Although everyone was smiling while watching over us, I felt unhappy with the fact that most people were saying things like "how interesting" rather than "how cute".

But even if this was Japan, the sight of animals dressed like this would probably cause people to laugh while taking a bunch of photos. Thus, for a place like this that didn't have the culture of dressing their dogs or cats, it couldn't be helped that our appearances were perceived as being rather queer.

When we went into an area with more traffic, we were noisily surrounded by the townspeople.

"It's made so that their tails can come out."

"Look, they're also holding a wallet."

After being petted for a while by the passersby, we once again continued forward.

The atmosphere of the main street resembled that of the town of Gouda's, and had shops and stands lined up in rows. However, this town had a few high class-looking stores here and there, so we had to make sure that we didn't enter them in these ridiculous outfits by accident.

After passing by one of those high class stores, I looked around restlessly at the surroundings.

(Where are they monitoring us from?)

I was curious as to where the enemy was hiding.

"Meow."

Then, Kugalg gave a horribly monotone meow, mimicking a cat to catch my attention.

It seems he was telling me to act more natural, lest we get found out.

"Woof!"

I also mimicked a dog, and nodded to say that I got it.

Normally I usually make noises like 'kyan' or 'kyun', so I've never really said 'woof' before.

"Woof woof (Is there anything you want?)"

"Meow (Not really)"

"Woof woof woof (Since we got some pocket money, let's buy something)"

"Meow meow meow (Anything's fine. I want whatever Mil wants.)"

It was a miracle that we could somehow have a conversation. Even though Kugalg was just saying 'meow', I could tell what he was saying.

But if Kugalg's fine with anything, that meant I could buy whatever I liked.

If that was the case, then there was but a single choice.

Naturally, that was food. But I was already sick of fruit because of the legans, so let's go with some other food.

While drawing the gazes of the surrounding people, we walked around to stores and stalls that seemed appropriate.

As we did so, I soon found a store that seemed to be selling something delicious.

It was a cake shop.

"Woof! (Let's go in there!)"

I used both paws to push open the door made of wood and glass. Kugalg also helped me, using his head to push.

"Welco—……ehh!?"

The older sister standing behind the display case let out a cry of shock upon seeing us. I could understand her feelings.

The other two people in the store – two customers who seemed to be a couple – also gave similarly shocked expressions as their eyes widened. The man looked like his eyeballs were about to fall out.

……Branch Captain-san, you should've prepared clothes that were a bit simpler.

"That surprised me! They're really cute."

Satisfied after hearing the word 'cute' rather than 'interesting', I approached the display case.

Though the 'display case' was just a regular shelf without any glass on it.

"Is it hungry?"

"Kyun……"

I wasn't all that hungry, but in order not to be driven out of the shop because we were animals, I made a cry as though I was starving.

Perhaps because it would go bad quickly, the cake shelves didn't have cakes made with fresh cream like the ones in Japan, which was a bit of a letdown.

Even though I love fresh cream.

But instead, there were confectionaries resembling pound cakes, so it seemed delicious in its own way.

There were cakes with dried fruits in them, cakes with nuts on them, and cakes that seemed to have vegetables like carrots or spinach mixed into them.

But a more plain cake might be good too. The sweet scent of butter was enticing.

(Alright, let's go with this one.)

Just around the time I decided on which one I wanted to buy, a round piece of paper fell from the gaps of the bunny rucksack.

It was probably pushed out by Mother's fairy.

I used my nose and forepaw, somehow managing to uncrumple the paper, then bit it and showed it to the older sister running the store.

[Two of these please.]

I still can't read words, but Branch Captain-san, who prepared this paper, told me that was what was written on it.

We weren't allowed to talk, so we could only express our desire to purchase things to the shopkeepers by showing this to them.

"*whine*……"

I brought the tip of my nose closer to the plain pound cake while holding the paper in my mouth, giving the older sister glances with my eyes as I looked up at her.

"Ahaha! Wow! You're quite smart. Two of those, right!"

The older sister laughed, then bundled up two slices of the pound cake.

It seems like the message got through to her.

Next, I left the paper on the floor and bit Kugalg's coin purse.

"Ah, you've also properly brought some money. To even give you two a wallet, your owner must be a truly eccentric person."

Yup, he buys far too many things for us. It might be because he just has far too much money on hand.

I'll tell him to hurry up and get a lover so that he can spend his money there instead.

"Then for two portions, I'll be taking this much."

The older sister took out a few coins, and then closed the coin purse with a click.

"Can you carry the goods? Should I put it in that bag for you?"

The older sister was about to try opening the rucksack, so before she did, I hastily received the pound cake bundle with my mouth.

It'd be bad if she saw the ball of light and the aqua-coloured snake that were hiding in the bag.

The pound cake wasn't in a bag so it was a bit hard to hold in my mouth, and it felt like I was about to crush it, but a fox like myself didn't have any other way of holding it so it couldn't be helped.

"Woofu (Thanks)"

Waving my tail at the older sister, I left the store.

Kugalg had been working hard to hold the door open for me.

"Come again, Sheep-san and Bee-san."

The older sister said while seeing us off as we returned to the main road.

While I wanted to eat this pound cake immediately—because I was holding it in my mouth, a delicious scent was constantly being transmitted to my nose—we should probably go to a less populated area before starting on it. We'll be in the way if we eat here.

Thinking that, I went to the side of the building where the cake shop we just left was and headed for the back of the building.

It was a bit plain, but this place'll work.

Placing the pound cake on the ground, I opened up the bundle that was wet with my drool.

"Woof."

That one is yours, Kugalg. I said while presenting one of the pieces to him, but Kugalg didn't seem very interested in the cake.

After seeing my happy expression as I began to gobble down the cake, he finally took a single bite.

Even though it was delicious with a gentle warmth to it – perhaps it had just been baked – Kugalg left most of it behind after he stopped eating.

As expected, it seemed like he liked jerky and meat-type foods more amongst all of the human foods.

"Meow (I don't need anymore)"

"Woof (Then I'll eat it.)"

After quickly polishing off my own portion, I settled Kugalg's portion in two bites.

That was delicious, I thought while licking the area around my mouth, gazing regretfully at the crumbs of pound cake that had fallen on the ground.

I wonder if my dignity as a former human would be in doubt if I were to lick these crumbs up.

But there were some pretty big pieces of crumbs laying around.

A shadow suddenly fell upon the ground that I had been staring fixedly at.

Wondering who had come to the back of a building like this, I turned around, and standing there was the couple that had been in the cake shop earlier.